


need to believe you could hold me down

by pageleaf



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Light Dom/sub, Shapeshifting, Strength Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 04:37:17
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8130655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pageleaf/pseuds/pageleaf
Summary: "Oh," Allura says sheepishly. "Oh no, that was just me."Shiro's eyes widen. "It...wasn't the shapeshifting?""No," Allura says. "Just my normal level of strength.""Oh," Shiro says blankly. "Oh. Okay."





	

**Author's Note:**

> this is mostly inspired by the scene where allura (in her shapeshifted form) breaks a door open and shiro stares at her, open-mouthed. but it's also heavily inspired by [this art](https://twitter.com/RosaPaladin/statuses/746800494211960832) by @RosaPaladin on twitter. allura is so strong and shiro is SO into it
> 
> title is from "handclap" by fitz and the tantrums! full lyric is "need to believe you could hold me down/'cause i'm in need of somethin' good right now" and it was just too appropriate
> 
> eternal love and gratitude, as always, to plalligator, for betaing and for participating in the chat/text convos that spawned this whole thing

"I still don't know why none of us knew about your shapeshifting before, princess," Lance says, pouting.

"Yeah," Pidge agrees, albeit less grumpily. "It seems like a good tactical advantage! Why don't you ever use it in practice?"

Allura hums thoughtfully. "I suppose I could," she murmurs. "You know, it seems silly, but would you believe I just forgot about it? At least until we had to infiltrate the base." She chews absently on her nail, a bad habit she had as a child that she never really broke. "Perhaps I should practice it more."

"It made you stronger too, didn't it?" Shiro asks. He shifts, awkwardly, and Allura is reminded with a flash of guilt how she tossed him into the shuttle on the Galra base. But Shiro is team leader and strategist, so he pushes past any discomfort to say, "We should think about how we can use that."

Still, he's not quite right about the strength: "Oh," Allura says sheepishly. "Oh no, that was just me."

Shiro's eyes widen. "It...wasn't the shapeshifting?"

"No," Allura says. "Just my normal level of strength."

"Oh," Shiro says blankly. "Oh. Okay."

But Allura doesn't have time to worry about his odd reaction, mind already occupied with new ideas for training drills. As she's leaving the room to plan, though, she hears Keith says, disbelieving, "Shiro, are you...blushing?"

 

It doesn't come up again until after they've planned new exercises and are integrating them with their training sessions for the first time. They're getting a baseline for Allura's strength (without the shapeshifting) by having her face off against each paladin individually. She knocks Lance and Pidge over almost immediately (though gently), and while Keith lasts a bit longer, she still has him on the ground in under five minutes. Hunk is the closest, but her strength is superhuman, so she pulls him down as well.

Shiro is last, and he's off his game from the very beginning, distracted and shifty. It doesn't take long, therefore, before Allura throws him over her shoulder and onto the ground. He's slow to get up and won't meet her eyes. "Are you alright?" Allura asks, concerned. She didn't _think_ he fell that hard, but maybe she wasn't careful enough. "Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Shiro says, as close to curt as he ever gets (which, admittedly, is not very).

And Allura believes him, but he avoids one-on-one drills with her for the next couple of days, and stiffens up a little whenever she touches him. She tries her best not to worry, but what if she _did_ hurt him? Or what if she didn't, but still upset him? Even now, none of them—including Shiro—knows much of what he went through while being held the Galra's prisoner. What if Allura inadvertently reminded him of some trauma?

She doesn't want Shiro to be scared of her.

 

And so, Allura finds herself asking for advice from the only person she can.

"Coran," she says mournfully, "humans and Alteans are such similar species, but I wonder if we're really able to overcome our fundamental differences."

"Er," Coran says. "What's this all about, princess?"

"Do you thinks that humans are intimidated by things stronger than they are?" Allura asks.

Coran scratches his head. "I suppose," he says, "in a lot of cases. Maybe if you're a little more specific, I can give a better answer."

Allura bites her lip and tells him about Shiro. Coran frowns.

"Did any of the other paladins seem upset by it?"

"No," Allura has to admit, "they didn't."

It's true: none of the other paladins seemed the least bit perturbed by her skills. Keith shrugged it off, as always, but evidently approved of having a new asset, often offering tactics for how to use it. Pidge was the most excited, by the science of it if nothing else. "Shapeshifting!" Pidge said, when the two of them first spoke about it. "I can't get over how cool that is. How does it work?" Lance abandoned his showy indignation within a few minutes, and has since been throwing himself into training. Hunk, especially, seems happy to have a sparring partner stronger than him, and even bigger, occasionally.

It's only Shiro who's acting strange.

"Only Shiro?" Coran asks, echoing her thoughts. "Hmm. I don't know what the problem is yet. Maybe leave it be for another day or two, and see if it resolves itself?"

Allura sighs. "That may be the best thing to do."

 

But it proves hard for Allura to 'leave it be,' because things only get stranger.

Later that day, in the loading dock, Pidge turns to Allura and says, loudly, "Princess! Can you help me move this piece of tech? It's way too heavy for me."

"Of course," Allura says, mildly confused by Pidge's shiftiness.

Hunk, sketching out a plan for...something, on the other side of the room, makes a noise of protest. "Pidge, I can do that. Princess, you don't have to—" He cuts himself off with a yelp as Lance elbows him in the ribs. "Dude!" Hunk hisses. "What the heck!"

Lance looks at him meaningfully. Allura isn't quite sure what the meaning _is_ , but Hunk seems to catch on to it, because he says, "Uh, I mean. I'm...busy! And, um, too tired. To lift. Anything. And I need to go cook something anyway! So, uh, Princess, can you?"

Allura blinks at him. "Sure?" she says. She crosses over to where Pidge is and lifts the tech easily onto her shoulder. "Where should I put it?"

"Just over there, near Hunk," Pidge says.

Allura turns around to walk it over. Before she can, though, she catches sight of Shiro, frozen in the doorway. "Shiro!" she says. "Did you need something?"

"No," Shiro says. "I was just. I'll just...go."

"Bye," Lance says cheerfully, and Pidge laughs quietly in the background. Shiro shoots them both a _look_ and leaves.

Allura sets the tech down. "What was that about?"

"Who knows," Keith says, and Allura jolts. She hadn't even seen him there, reading a book in the corner. "None of us do, at least. Right?"

"Right," the others agree, in unison, and Allura shakes her head and makes her exit, as well.

But the next morning is the same, only this time it's Keith who asks for her help.

"Princess," he calls, from the equipment room. "None of us can reach this shelf. Do you think you could shapeshift and get this blaster for me?"

Allura obliges, stretching up onto her tiptoes and then stretching her legs themselves. Her body always shifts to scale, so she feels her shoulders and hips widen as well.

In the other end of the equipment room, Shiro drops his knife.

"Okay," Allura says. "That's enough."

She grabs the blaster, shrinks down to her own size, hands it to Keith, and turns to face Shiro. She crosses her arms. "What's going on with you?"

"And that's my cue," Keith says, leaving and yelling at the others to clear out of the training room.

"Nothing's going on," Shiro replies defensively.

"Look, Shiro," Allura says, exasperated. "No one else seems to have a problem with it. Is there any way we can work past this so you're fine with it, too?"

Shiro splutters. "I—I don't have a problem!"

Allura ignores him. "You need to get used to it." She keeps her voice gentle as she says, "Can we try sparring again?"

Shiro hesitates, looking like he's going to deny it or refuse. But then his back straightens with resolve. "Sure," he agrees. "You're right."

It gives Allura hope that they can work this out easily—hope that is dashed, quickly.

Again, when Allura muscles Shiro down, this time pinning him to the mat, he goes stiff, a pained expression taking residence on his face.

"I don't understand," Allura says. She catches sight of his red ears and blinks. "Are you embarrassed? You've never had a problem with the others getting the best of you." Keith, for instance, does it regularly, and Shiro only ever seems pleased by that.

"N-no," Shiro says faintly.

Allura sits back, still sitting on his hips, and inspects him. His chest is rising up and down far faster than it should be. A reaction to stress, or fear, maybe? His mouth parts slightly on an exhale and he tenses, like he's going to try to push her off. Without thinking, Allura rests her weight more firmly on him.

Shiro gasps, like it's been punched out of him.

" _Oh_ ," Allura says. Shiro winces and brings his hands up to cover his rapidly reddening face. "No, no, wait," Allura says, grabbing his wrists and pulling them away.

Shiro turns his head away. "I'm so sorry," he says. "I'm really, really sorry."

"Shiro, _wait_ ," Allura insists, leaning forward. "I'm not mad."

Slowly, Shiro moves back to meet her gaze. "You're not?"

"Of course not!" Allura laughs, bright. "I'm happy! I thought you were upset with me."

Shiro gapes at her. "Why would you think that?"

Allura laughs, again. "Never mind that," she says. "This is much better."

"Can—" Shiro shifts underneath her. "Can I kiss you?"

"I'll do you one better," Allura says, and kisses him.

 

And that's how Allura finds herself straddling Shiro's hips, pinning him to the floor by his wrists and kissing him breathless as the day shifts from morning to afternoon. She loses track of how much time they pass like that, too absorbed in the way Shiro flexes his wrists in her grip, not trying to get away, just feeling.

"Tell me if you need me to stop," Allura says, probably for the thousandth time, but it's important.

"I will," Shiro says, and chokes on his breath as she rolls her hips more firmly against his. "This is gonna be quick," he warns.

Allura hides what is probably an unforgivably smug smile in the square edge of his jaw. "I'm taking that as a compliment," she says.

"You, _ah_ ," Shiro gasps, "should. I haven't come in my pants since I was fifteen."

" _Oh_ ," Allura says, a little bit shocked by the bolt of heat that shoots through her at that. "Is that what you're going to do?"

Shiro drops his head back against the mat and pulls at her grip again. "Yep," he says in a strangled voice.

"Now?" Allura asks, leaning down to bite as his lower lip.

" _Yeah_." Shiro's hips jerk against her, and he cries out against her mouth. "Allura, oh—"

"Shiro," Allura moans. "That's perfect, you're perfect."

"Let me touch you," Shiro pleads desperately. "Please, Allura."

She lets go of his wrists, and immediately Shiro's left hand comes up to brace against her hip. He leaves his right arm—his metal arm, his Galra arm—up above his head though. Allura makes an impatient noise and pulls it down around her waist.

"Don't worry," she says. "You can't hurt me."

Shiro makes a choked noise and helps her remove her suit, both hands clutching frantically at her bare skin. "Let me," he says, reaching his left hand down for her to grind against.

"Good," Allura gasps, as the base of his palm rubs against her clit. "Shiro, that's so good."

Shiro twists underneath her, face entirely red, breath puffing hot against her neck. "Come on, Allura," he pants. "Come on, please."

It's the last please that undoes her, and she comes with a shout.

When she comes down, Allura arms are trembling with the effort of holding herself up. Shiro huffs and pulls her down with sticky hands until she's resting her weight fully on top of him. "You can't hurt me either," he reminds her.

"So you aren't frightened of my strength, then?" It might be silly, but Allura still has to check.

"Far from it," Shiro reassures. His mostly-faded blush returns faintly, and he smiles. "I promise."

Allura smiles back, a little wicked. "And the shapeshifting?"

The blush comes back in full force, and satisfaction blooms in Allura's chest. Yes, she can work with this.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [need to believe you could hold me down by pageleaf [podfic]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10519311) by [illutu](https://archiveofourown.org/users/illutu/pseuds/illutu), [Rhea314 (Rhea)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhea/pseuds/Rhea314)




End file.
